De La Cruz Is One-Man Bruiser For St. Genevieve

St. Genevieve football Coach Lindon Crow is a master at playing the cards.

Last season, he shuffled his backfield, moving quarterback Tim Lee to tailback and tailback Jeff De La Cruz to fullback.

Lee rushed for more than 1,000 yards, De La Cruz gained more than 500, and the Valiants took the pot: the Santa Fe League title.

Lee has graduated and Crow has reshuffled, installing a new one-back offensive alignment featuring De La Cruz.

It looks as if another successful season is in the cards.

In the Valiants’ 19-14 season-opening victory over highly touted Montclair Prep, De La Cruz gained 141 yards on 28 carries and scored a touchdown.

De La Cruz likes the prospect of being St. Genevieve’s sole ball-carrier.

“This season, being the only back, I’m hoping to have a better season than last year,” he said. “Last season, I didn’t get to run the ball as much as I would have liked. But this season, I came in with a positive attitude and am looking for a good year.”

Crow believes that De La Cruz will find what he’s seeking.

“Even last season, I knew that Jeff was going to be our back this year,” he said. “I may be partial, but as far as I’m concerned, there aren’t any running backs in the league that are going to be close to him this year.”

Saturday night against the Mounties, De La Cruz did almost as much damage on defense as he did on offense.

With Montclair driving in the final moments, he intercepted a pass deep in his own territory to secure the victory and earn himself Times Valley Player of the Week honors.

De La Cruz (5-10, 180) doesn’t like to boast about his talent. When asked of his performance against Montclair, he said, “I thought I had a pretty good game.”

Said Crow: “Jeff is a little shy and quiet, but when he’s on the field, he’s all business. He likes the contact.

“Against Montclair, he broke through the line, put his head down and tried to run over the top of a defensive back. We thought he could have gone around him but he insisted that there was someone coming from the other side and that he had do what he did.

“He means an awful lot to us and when he does that, I keep turning around to make sure he gets up.”

He always has.

In last season’s Desert Mountain Conference playoffs, De La Cruz played in both the Valiants’ games despite several fractured ribs.

“I just thought they were pretty bruised,” De La Cruz said. “I didn’t know until two weeks later that they were fractured. It was painful, but I wanted to play.”

And, for this season at least, Crow may stand pat.

De La Cruz was not the only Valley player to turn in a notable performance in the Southern Section’s first week of competition.

Four Marmonte League players, M. J. Nelson, Gary Wellman, Ricky Strickland and Shawn Christensen, as well as Canyon’s Joe Zacharia, also deserve recognition for their efforts.

Nelson, a senior running back/defensive back at Simi Valley, rushed for 121 yards on 16 carries, scored on a 50-yard run and intercepted a pass in the Pioneers’ 17-0 win over Ventura.

Wellman, a senior running back at Westlake, opened the Warriors’ season by gaining 173 yards on only 12 carries--an average of 14.4 yards per carry--and scored three times, pacing his team to a 42-7 victory over San Marcos of Santa Barbara.

Strickland stepped into the 1985 season by stepping in front of two Arcadia passes. The senior cornerback from Thousand Oaks returned one of his interceptions 24 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown. The play proved to be the difference in the Lancers’ 17-12 victory.

For the second straight year, Christensen began the season with a standout effort. The junior quarterback completed 17 of 32 passes for 296 yards and two touchdowns in Royal’s 28-20 loss to Buena. He also kicked field goals of 24 and 37 yards.

In a showdown of the Valley’s No. 1- and 2-ranked teams, Zacharia played a key role in the Cowboys’ exciting 6-3 victory over cross-town rival Hart. Zacharia, a senior nose guard, sacked Hart quarterback Jim Bonds three times to lead Canyon’s stingy defense, which allowed the Indians only 127 total yards.